The Sacrament of Reconciliation has always been one of the sacraments of our Lord that helps us connect to Him. Why can we get so close to God when we only kneel before the priest in the confessional?In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
We start our connection by establishing the first formula with which we establish our foundation upon which we will build our whole dialogue, instead of saying Hello, we have based our beliefs and we begin our confession by setting the base greeting with which we call upon the Merfcy of the Holy Trinity. Therefore, the priest from the other side suddenly becomes somebody we have grown to know each day. He acts in persona Christi, in the person of Christ (instead of Christ), creating the bond between Him and us. So this connection is not established by a crystal bowl or the calling of spirits, but by sound faith and a sound relationship with God.
We are faced with the recollection of memory of our passed sins before we enter the confessional, and as we kneel and cross ourselves, we in fact face our inner self, sinful as it is, and bow before God's eternal blessing, wisdom and mercy by letting his light guide us through the confession, by confessing everything we confess that we are sinful, but that we want to become better. Confession is not a place where the weak come to be weaker. In fact, the ones weak from their sins usually come there to become stronger. Because it takes great courage and strength to face our sins, our wrongdoings and our going astray.
After we confess our sins or ask for guidance, we hear something which is greater than anything we've heard before. After the penance due for the sins we've committed we hear something which we haven't expected. I went wrong, I confessed and the Lord is Merciful enough to forgive all of our sins! What Power and at the same time what Mercy we are faced with. The sins we commit as we go through the Stations of the Cross, are in fact a modern representative of the people participating in Jesus' passion on his way to Calvary. If we try and re-live those moments of the life of our Lord, we can see our sins from another perspective.
The powerful psychological image of the Confessional, is something we find in other practices as well. If you go to a psychologist or a psychiatrist, you do pretty much the same. But the psychologist or psychiatrist can never do one very important thing - forgive our sins. This glorious duty is only entrusted with our priests.
If you can find Michel Dangoisse's, Laissez-Vous Reconcilier avec Dieu, (Reconciliate Yourselves with God, also translated as Accounts 0r Testimonies about Reconciliating with God) or a similar book that explains why you need to go to confession, might help those of you who are still in doubt of whether or not you need to confess.
It's better than going to your local square and shouting from the top of your lungs "I HAVE SINNED", because I doubt that even God would like to hear you:) when you can ALWAYS go to Church and open up! And don't worry, your sins will never be heard by anyone else as the priest is obliged to keep them to himself even if he is under threat for his life, and the only cost you have to pay is to be penitent.
From my personal experience, I believe that confession has made me stronger and has given me a guidance in life, but most importantly it brought peace and happiness to my soul. The Holy Trivium is a wonderful time to go to Confession. Why not use it? You always know that there will always be a door open for you there.
